Last month the Water Services Bill 2014 went through the Houses. This year, families will, depending on their circumstances, face bills ranging from €160 to €260. We are all aware of the rebate from the Tánaiste's Department and the costs associated with that. Yesterday we saw from the new legislative programme that the Government intends to publish another water services Bill this session. This Dáil would not be the same without a water services Bill each session. However, nobody seems to know what this particular legislation is about. The Taoiseach certainly did not know yesterday, nor was it mentioned by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, during his many speeches on the issue at the end of last year.

Flat charges will be short-lived and probably changed by 2018, but the Government is not shouting from the rooftops about that. There is no ceiling on the amount of water people can use and householders will receive relief from the Department of Social Protection in an effort by the Government to try to pass the EUROSTAT test in March. If it does pass that test, we are told we will be able to borrow money to invest in infrastructure. This would indeed be welcome given that this Government has invested less in the past four years than its predecessor did in a period before water charges were ever talked about. Despite the political propaganda professed by the Tánaiste and her colleagues, that is the factual situation.

We had reports yesterday that despite the €500 million spent by Irish Water on installing water meters and the €42 million per year that is being paid for this borrowing, the lifespan of these devices is only 15 years. We have never seen the contracts for their installation or the detail in regard to the awarding of those contracts. The management of Irish Water continues to be a secret affair between the Government and the company. As I said, we were informed yesterday that the manufacturer's design life of a water meter is 15 years. However, the devices that have been installed throughout the country will not be utilised until 2019 at the earliest. The Government is spending €500 million installing 1.2 million meters, which works out at €416 per meter. These items will effectively have a lifespan of up to ten years, given that they will not be used for the first five years following their installation. When people are told they will pay €60 for water, they should know that €42 of the bill will be for the water meter. That represents 70% of the bill for a single adult and some 26% of the bill for a family of two or more.

Does the Tánaiste consider this a responsible use of money given that her Government continues to cut services left, right and centre? Does she consider it a responsible use of money when hospital emergency services are under such pressure, community care for the elderly is almost non-existent, home help hours are being slashed, and elderly and disabled people applying for housing adaptation grants are being told they must wait three to five years before their applications can be processed? Meanwhile, back at the ranch, good old Irish Water is spending €500 million on meters that will possibly have a lifespan of only ten years, considering they will be defunct for the first five years. What assurances has the Tánaiste been given and what confidence can she assert in this House that no further moneys will be expended on upgrading these meters? Local authorities which installed water meters less than three or four years ago were subsequently told by these characters in Irish Water that they were obsolete. May we have some clarity once and for all on this issue, or will it continue to be the Government's nemesis this year? Perhaps the Tánaiste will be able to tell us what the story is before the embarrassment of the EUROSTAT test in March.

I begin by wishing everybody a happy new year. It is a bit disappointing to see that Deputy Cowen must not have had a break over Christmas to read up on Irish Water. As he rightly acknowledges, the new charging structure will see a gross charge of €160 for an individual living alone, less the water conservation grant of €100 that the Department of Social Protection will pay. That is a net charge of €60. For a family, the gross charge will be €260, less the €100 water conservation grant. This compares very favourably with the €400 annual water charge that was originally proposed by Fianna Fáil. I suppose it slipped the Deputy's mind, but it is what his party put on the table.

Having given that clarification, I move on to the more important point. Our antiquated water system is not fit for purpose in terms of the needs of every man, woman and child in this country and the need for employment, investment and growth in the economy. As I understand it, Fianna Fáil was once a party that supported public investment in the infrastructure of this country and the employment that creates. When it managed to lose the banks, however, it seemed also to lose its taste for the investment that this country badly needs. At this time there are 42 points in this country at which raw sewage is being pumped into rivers, lakes and beaches. Even if that does not concern Deputy Cowen, it does concern most people in this country, particularly those who have to live near these locations. The water charges that have been set out are reasonable.

In regard to water meters, it feels these days as though Fianna Fáil is basically looking to identify anything and everything it can to denigrate the people who work in water services in this country and the people who are committed to investing in and providing clean water for the population. I am sure the Deputy has had an opportunity to read the newspapers today, in which case he will have seen the views expressed by an expert in one particular article and echoed in all of the media. This expert indicates that it will, in due course, take around five minutes to replace a meter and that it will cost some €50 million to do so for all meters. The expected lifespan of the devices in terms of the guarantee and the work that is being carried out is a minimum of 15 years. In fact, based on the experience in other countries, it is likely to be significantly longer than that. I do not know if the Deputy has ever actually looked at what the water meter set-up is, but the only thing that will have to be changed is the actual meter. As I said, experts indicate that it will take something like five minutes to do so, that it can be done at a very low cost and that many of the meters will go well beyond the indicated guaranteed lifespan of 15 years.

To be honest, what the Deputy is concerned about is a total ball of smoke.

The Tánaiste is a ball of smoke.

His concern ought to be with clean water for the public, and sufficient water to provide for the country's industrial, economic, tourism and agricultural needs. As his party's spokesperson on environmental issues, I am sure Deputy Cowen is aware that the greater Dublin area is living on the edge as regards water supplies. We know what happened some years ago in County Galway and Galway city when one of the key tourism and agricultural regions all but closed down due to the lack of-----

Investment by the Government.

-----clean and safe water to drink. If those in Fianna Fáil are happy to bring people in Ireland back to that era - if that is their objective as we start out in 2015 - they have moved very far from what the party once stood for.

New year, same old story. It is the same lazy and predictable answer we have heard since this sorry debacle began over two years ago. The Tánaiste sat idly by at Cabinet and allowed the wastage of costs associated with this ridiculous project. The Tánaiste and her colleagues sat idly by.

Where was the ball of smoke then?

Some €85 million was spent on consultants that the Tánaiste did not know anything about, yet she sat idly by not knowing what was going around her at the Cabinet table. That is not a ball of smoke. Some €500 million has now been spent on water metering, and that is not a ball of smoke. The almost €50 million a year that is being paid towards servicing the costs of that is not a ball of smoke either. I asked the Tánaiste a question but she failed to answer it. She is good at that, but she will be held accountable whether she likes it or not.

In any contract that I or others in this Chamber have seen, the Tánaiste has no guarantee - none whatsoever - that the installed water meters will last beyond 15 years. She should not try to tell me that they will last 20, 30, 40 or 50 years, because she does not know, no more than I do. That is the ball of smoke she is talking about.

Putting the associated spending to one side, we should also consider the debacle in our hospitals, as well as care for the elderly, community care and our home help situation. Does the Tánaiste think that is money well spent? Can she stand over this while people cannot get the care and assistance they need and want in their homes so that communities can prosper in some shape or form? The Tánaiste has abandoned the commitments she made to rural areas. She should not try to tell me that it is a ball of smoke. I am here on behalf of the constituents I represent, together with those of my colleagues, who wish to tell the Tánaiste for the umpteenth time that this has been a massive debacle which continues unabated. The secrecy associated with it continues too because neither the Tánaiste nor the manufacturer can guarantee that those meters will last a day beyond 15 years. She should not therefore tell me that the €50 million annual expenditure is a ball of smoke when she cannot guarantee that she will not have to spend a further €500 million to replace the meters.

We are over time, Deputy.

That is not the question I asked, however. How does the lack of information sit with the Tánaiste, given that the issue with emergency hospital care is continuing? Where is the value for money?

It is ironic that those in Fianna Fáil would have the nerve to come in here on a morning when the Governor of the Central Bank is downstairs retelling the sad story of how Fianna Fáil chose to expend €34 billion on two failed financial entities, Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide.

Answer the question.

We are used to that part of the answer.

It was €34 billion. If the Deputy is going to throw figures around, let us look at the big figures.

The Tánaiste has the floor, and I want the same respect given to everybody here.

Let me come back to the main point the Deputy is asking about. He is concerned that over their lifetime there will be some replacement of water meters. The purpose of the meters is to do what the Deputy, and everybody across the House, has called for on successive occasions - that is, to stop the situation whereby up to 40% of expensive, treated water in this country goes to waste through leaks.

That is the game changer.

For decades, people on all sides of this House, including the Labour Party and Fine Gael, have asked that the fixing of leaks should be prioritised. It is not possible to find and fix the leaks unless we have a structure to identify them.

Does the Tánaiste believe it is good value?

Second, water meters will provide the mechanism for people to control their use of water and conserve water, which we need to do as a country. The cost of fixing these meters when they come up for renewal - and they are expected to last a minimum of 15 years - will be roughly €5 million per year.

No wonder she sat idly by.

They will take five minutes to fix and will cost up to €50 per unit. That is in line with the best international figures on these matters.

She is lost at sea.